Higher material costs for homebuilders and the absence of starts for large nonresidential and nonbuilding projects push Dodge Data & Analytics’ count of total starts down 7% for the month. Total construction starts fell for the second straight month, with all three major industry sectors (residential, nonresidential building and nonbuilding) seeing a pullback. Dodge Data & Analytics reports a 7% decline in total starts in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $863.6 billion. Regionally, starts rose in the Northeast but fell in all other regions. The shortfall is being attributed to the detrimental effects of rising material costs on single-family housing, plus the absence of large nonresidential building and nonbuilding projects breaking ground in June compared to the prior month. READ FULL ARTICLE>>
